SWAN HILL GENEALOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY
P.O. Box 1232 Swan Hill  3585

A Group Member of
Genealogical Society of Victoria

Office Bearers

Library Committee
Shirley Durden, Linda Annear, Tom Osborne, Dot Harvey

Newsletter Committee
Sandra Nicoll,, Helen Howley, Betty Vanderstoel, Linda Annear

New Members

28.	Judy Plumridge	PO Box 6	Woorenen	376306
29	Phyllis Mason	1/160 Curlewis Street	Swan Hill	321453
33.	Vic. Plumridge	PO Box 6	Woorinen	376306
34.	Rachel Larson
35.	Jannette Power

Calendar
August 9th at 8 p.m. we will meet at the Special Education Unit, Beveridge Street, Swan Hill (next to Beveridge Dome). Please bring along something pertaining to your family history.

September 13th is our Annual General Meeting. A dinner meeting will be held at Murray Downs Lodges. The cost will be $12.50 per member or $13.00 per guest. This covers 1 3 course meal, cheeseboard and endless tea & coffee. You are invited to bring along your friends, husbands or wives. We request payment with bookings please. If you have any queries regarding this night please see Edna Bowen.

Chairperson's Report
Greetings to all members and interested friends, in this, our third issue of Mallee Roots.

As we approach our third Annual Meeting, I would like to ask you all to think about your involvement in our Genealogical and Historical Society. It was formed to assist one another, to promote genealogy, and to preserve our history; but it will only succeed and continue to grow if we each take an active part in the Society - we must all give as well as receive, help.

There is an urgent need to enlarge our Committee, and spread the workload, so please offer to do at least small task or accept nomination for one position in the coming year, so you can truly say "I am part of this Society".

Recently I attended the G.S.V. Country Group Meeting in Melbourne, and received an insight into how all groups, City and Country, can help each other, by giving as well as taking.

Items of interest from the meeting included:

1. Future issues of Ancestor will have a varied format - the December issue will feature Irish Research. The Editor welcomes constructive criticism, and intends to print Members' Interests, as well as membership lists from time to time.

2. The G.S.V. wishes to receive from all members, a copy of their Pedigree Sheet, which should be updated at intervals. These can be viewed at G.S.V. and could lead to members researching the same name, getting together.
 

3. Subscriptions to G.S.V. were due on July 1st, at $20 ordinary members; if you joined part way through the year contact them t bring your sub into line with the financial year.

4. Cemetery Cards, which have 'over flowed' from the G.S.V. files, can be viewed in Room 4; these will ultimately go into a Computer to be linked up Australia wide.

5. It is necessary to do some pre-reading of material supplied before attempting to view N.S.W. & Tasmanian Birth, Death and Marriage microfilms or fiche. Unfortunately the S.A. microfiche have turned out to be little help unless you have an unusual name to research.

6. When the new updated I.G.I. Microfiche arrives at G.S.V., the old ones will be circulated around the GROUPS, on the basis of a County at a time.  However there seems to be a delay in the arrival of the new Indexes.

7. When submitting Research questions to G.S.V., please leave a wide margin on the page and endeavour to make your questions concise.

8. Steps are being taken to ensure that all Groups are covered by the G.S.V. Insurance Policy: however this may hinge on the cost and whether the Group is obeying the rule that all it's members are members of the G.S.V.

ADDITIONS TO THE SWAN HILL GENEALOGICAL & HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S LIBRARY

Swan Hill Women's Auxiliary R.S.L. 1932-82 "50 Years of Service - Serving Still donated by Edna Bowen

"Now There are Six - An Historical Overview of Education in the Manangatang Area" donated by M. Smith, Manangatang

Department of Crown Lands & Survey Division of Survey & Mapping
Central Plan Office donated by Sandra Nicoll

"Metian 1978" Back-To Schools
Metian West 3464
Metian Railway Station 3761
Metian (East) 4514
Metian (Fidge's Barn) 3223 donated by Janette Power

"Lalbert Reflections" by Jan & Janine Power donated by Janette Power
 

STOP PRESS!!  The Government will release copies of indices to births, deaths and marriages in Victoria at the end of 1985. They will cover early Church Records from 1837 to 1853 and civil registrations from 1853 - 1895. The copies will be in microfiche form.

Letters of Times Past
Copies of letters written by George & Charles Baumgartner in 1853 have been donated to our Group by John and Joan Eyles of Pental Island. John's Grandmother was Alice Baumgartner born 1859. We thank John and Joan for their interest. The three letters will be serialised in this Newsletter. Please find the first serial below.
(On board the 'Woodstock', 29th. April 1853, off Williamstown, near Melbourne.)
 

My dear Father, Here we are at last and I write a few lines to announce our safe arrival  as a ship sails tomorrow for England. I must refer you to Charle's [sic] letter to my dear Mother for an account of our voyage as he has described it in full and repetition would only be tedious. I will only mention that we sighted Cape Ottway, the first land we saw since leaving England, on the 20th of this month and had a fair wind might have been here next day, which would have been 93 days from Portsmouth, a fair average passage. But unluckily we had calms and contracy winds in Bass's strait, and did not get through Port Phillip heads till Saturday afternoon the 23 and were then obliged to come to an anchor till Tuesday when we got under weigh and arrived here on Wednesday the 27th. The last part of our voyage was like the beginning of it, a little dangerous, for as we were beating up through the heads, a very narrow passage only half a mile wide, two other large ships were coming through at the same time; the wind was very light and the tide was against us running at the rate of six miles an hour, one of the ships an American named 'James L. Bogart' got in before us and then remained almost stationery a hundred yards ahead, the other one a Liverpool ship the 'John Knox' was abreast of us and became unmanageable in the strong tide way; she drifted down upon us and the two ships came within a yard of each other, it was an anxious moment an we all expected a tremendous crash, but providentially we shot ahead and just escaped collision. Had it taken place we should very likely have been driven on to the rocks, as an unlucky ship, named the 'Sacramento' was the night before last in attempting to get through the heads at night, a most rash thing to do as it is a most dangerous place. We passed the Yankee again in beating up the the anchorage having quite outmanoevred him the 'John Knox' gave it up and went back to sea but managed to get through the next day. In coming up the bay on Tuesday we were again unlucky, the passage is exceedingly narrow, large sandbanks being on each side, the same Yankee was coming up with us and kept edging towards us and our pilot afraid of collision got out of his way too much, the consequence was he ran us on to the sandbank where we stuck fast for hours........   continued in Newsletter No. 4.

 

S.A. Archives If you are researching ancestors in South Australia you may be interested in a 'Guide to Sources of Genealogical Information held in the South Australian Archives (Third Edition - July 1983) This booklet is available from Helen  Howley

'VICTORIA & IT'S METROPOLIS - VOL.2. PEOPLE' Many of our members have discovered much about their ancestors by reading the above book at the G.S.V. or LaTrobe. Perhaps you may find your ancestors in it!!

Snippets

You may be missing out on some valuable information if you are not reading the Newsletters received each month from other Groups of the G.S.V. Here are some snippets our Newsletter Committee thought worth repeating.

Births and Deaths at Sea
Did you know? Records of Births and Deaths at sea appear on the I.G.I. Microfiche, but the entries are limited and scattered. Officially, births at sea were registered at the first port of call after the event, or possibly at the port of destination.
 

Land Grants    thankyou to Lorraine Phelan
Because the Department of Crown Lands and Survey is responsible for Crown Lands only, their records of occupancy, ownership or use of any particular allotment cover the period before sale by the government. Details of latter owners and occupiers may be obtained from the Titles Office and local Municipalities.

Many Crown Land Records are held at the P.R.O. Laverton. The files are readily accessible only if the Parish name and file numbers of a particular allotment are quoted. The file numbers are found on the Parish Plan (Victoria has 2004 Parishes) is the basic unit used by the Department of Crown Lands and most records are organised accordingly. The Department has 19,430 'put away' plans (superseded by current land use Plans) that are accessible as most are on microfilm. However most current maps still quote the name and date of granting the title to the original owners. (ref. P.Cabena, Dept. of Crown Lands and Survey, Research Guide)

Members please note that our Group holds a copy of the research guide.
Thankyou to the Portland Group Newsletter, June 1985

THANKYOU  Our Committee wishes to extend it's thanks to Russell Annear for his artistry in designing our logo for Mallee Roots. We think it's great, well done Russell.

LATROBE LIBRARY
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
328 SWANSTON  STREET
MELBOURNE  VIC 3000
(Mainly pre-federation material, Boer War, Colonial Regiments, etc.)

THE ARCHIVES AUTHORITY OF N.S.W.
2 GLOBE STREET
THE ROCKS
SYDNEY  N.S.W.  2000
(Specialising in naval military history and records as well as general information)

BURRIDGE MILITARY ANTIQUES
9 ALBERT STREET
CLAREMONT  W.A.  6010
(He has a large range of specialised books of almost every Australian Unit and British Unit and also Books on awards of various decorations, e.g. Military Medals, D.S.O. etc..)
 

CENTRAL ARMY RECORDS OFFICE    or (C.A.R.O.) 366 ST. KILDA ROAD MELBOURNE VIC 3000

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE BOX 1932R G.P.O.  MELBOURNE  3001

(Full army record and service details are supplied to next of kin and immediate relatives, unclaimed medals can also be claimed from this source. They receive 200 enquiries daily, mainly concerned with pension applications which receive 1st priority.)

AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
PO BOX 345
CANBERRA  A.C.T.
(The people to contact there are, Michael Piggert, Librarian; and John Mondike, Army Historian; They deal with more of a general nature, e.g. where units fought, photographs of groups of soldiers, overseas war cemeteries etc. But they can track down details of individuals if all else fails.)
 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE NAVY, ROYAL AIRFORCE E33 CANBERRA

THE PUBIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON (Has full records of most British men who served their country

Many families have, stored away, a box of old medals, buttons badges, papers, letters, etc., which are often of a military nature. These can sometimes help to give extra valuable information in our search for our family history.
 
 

Medals:

The first British Medals were issued in 1816, and these were different from several previous issues in the fact that they were the first medal to be actually named to the recipient, also with their regiment. This, the Waterloo Medal, was issued to all soldiers of all ranks who actually took part in that battle. For approximately 100 years until after World War 1, all British Medals have been named. Much to the disgust of the World War 11 British Veterans, medals issued for that war were un-named. Luckily however, all medals issued to Australians from 1860 (The New Zealand War), to Vietnam, have been named thus each medal which you have in your possession represents the historical military achievement of a particular person. If the right sources can be found, many details of this particular medal and the person who earned it can be documented.

Discharge Certificates and Pay Books, et. are also quite informative and these often need to be produced when applying for an aged or ex serviceman's pension.    David  Dalgleish
 

Devon

DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL Devon County Council has introduced a new professional service in Exeter. In October 1982 the post of Genealogist was established in the Devon Record Office in order that Genealogical and related searches could be undertaken on a paid basis. The fee is £5 for just under an hour's work and this sum included V.A.T. What this service can offer The Genealogist is familiar with and has direct access to collections in the Devon Record Office and Westcountry Studies Library. These collection include most Devon parish registers, census enumerators' returns, tax and rate assessments and other inhabitants' lists, trade directories, newspapers and comprehensive indices in both departments. There will be no travelling expenses and a limited number of photocopies may be supplied where these can present the results of the research more economically. How to make use of the service Please send your remittance of £5 with concise details of the searches required, to the Devon Record Office, Castle Street, Exeter, EX4 3PU. Overseas customers should remit in sterling or add £1 towards handling fees on each cheque. If, in the opinion of staff, suitable material is not available, the whole remittance would be returned, and it is regretted that partial cash refunds cannot be made.